I would add a front porch in order to take attention away from the garage door.

Your picture doesn't enlarge so it is difficlut to really see the house. I wonder if it neds to be painted? The red door certainly clashes with the pink walkway.

A landscape architect can advise you or design a new walkway that is better suited to your homes design.

The landscaping is obvious. Sometimes all that is necessary is prudent pruning and reshaping of the shruds and removal of plants that are past their prime. A landscape architect or a horticulturist (either one) can advise you and/or design a new landscape plan that is suited to your area and will compliment your home.

I agree tame the landscaping and I think the place will look fine.

Landscaping will help a lot. The large shrub is overpowering the front of the house...

I love the red door! I would trim the shrubs as others suggested, and get rid of that tree by the driveway, it just cuts your property in half like a line drawn down the middle. Work on softening the utility and mailbox area with some low plantings and maybe an interesting mailbox post and box.

Take care of landscaping, as others have suggested, and paint the garage door a couple shades darker than the body of the house.

beautiful house! looks to be mid-century modern?? if so, i would not change much. that style house is rather sought after, especially if in good condition. i'm curious what the interior looks like, as you say you want to update to match the interior. i love the red door, too. we bought a similar home, and ours is also red. we might paint it orange, though... in keeping with a lot of mid-century modern ranches that had orange doors... probably some examples on houzz. lovely house, though. i suggest typing in "mid-century modern ranch exterior" on this site for some ideas.

here's one example...

same house at night...

Nice Ranch!
I suggest:
Trim the bushes and maybe plant a small ornamental tree?
Move the walkway so it's straight to the front door, the curvedness doesn't fit the architecture.
Do the walkway in a slate or stone and replace the brick.
I think the house would look good in a slightly darker color for contrast with the windows etc.
Good luck.

The house is cute. The red door adds pop and draws the eye toward the entry. Lower the shrub height so they are the same on both sides, not much higher than the bottom of the window ledge. Possibly remove the smaller palm on the left and plant small to medium flowering tree past the house corner to frame the house. Remove the triangle of lawn under the tall palm and plant low groundcover that has some interesting texture. Plant some red carpet roses in front area along sidewalk to add a punch of red away from the door.

New photo might help get new ideas, as it will give people more information. You wanted to match the interior. What is the interior like? What continuity do you want to get?

I love the red door too. The thing that caught my eye is the truss ends or whatever you call those things, sticking out at the end of the roof, they look like little cannon portholes ready to shoot any friendly visitor, gazing at your house a little too long...anyhow, I'm exaggerating a bit, but I would paint those, to blend in a little more.

I love the house. All it needs is to be seen. I agree the landscaping is quite overgrown and blocking the view. There are many new shrubs that are slow growers and would make perfect replacements and update your house.

If you want the garage doors to be less noticeable, paint them a color that blends in with the house.

This may sound odd, but do you have gutters for the front roofline? That sticks out to me and appears unfinished. I agree to remove tall palm tree, relocate sidewalk and color of product. Your mailbox area could move or be improved with landscaping and eliminate that arched garden near sidewalk.
Yes, trim the bushes down to window height! House color is hard to see, seems ok for now.

how bout a smallish reverse gable entry porch roof extension...practical and creates a focal point. mksarchitect

Lots of great ideas already... I agree with taking down the big bushes and replacing with an easy care planting. Paint the garage door to match more closely with siding. I am not in love with the walkway... no pic but would look for something a little more modern...wider...less winding. Maybe look at putting a deck with railing on the front while incorporating the stairs...widened so it looks more substantial and welcoming.
Pretty house!

Maybe when you have the shrubs taken out you can post new pictures.

I do not find the curving sidewalk an issue...a staight one and it appears you will have to move mailbox...plus it looks in good condition...I sincerely think a little landscaping will help a lot!! A tall grass/or another planting arrangement to help hide the utility box also...

In addition to Jayme's comment, remove the overgrown shrubs in the front.

The image is small, it may be helpful to also take a picture of the inside so we can see what it is you are wanting to match. Its a cute house but definitely needs to be brightened up! like "dytecture" said adding a front porch would do a ton of good to the curb appeal to your home!

My mother had a house similar to this one. She changed the roof line by adding a porch, got rid of the big plants and did planters all with weathered brick on the porch columns. It made the house look so much better.

Upgrading the door to one with glass would be good also. It sold my last house for me!

Susan nailed it!.

I think it depends on what style you're shooting for and what the inside of the house looks like. If you want to emphasize mid-century modern which seems to make the most sense from the architecture, then the walkway should be replaced to make a straight entry and all those overgrown shrubs completely removed and replaced with landscaping which emphasizes repetition and texture, not variety. Drift plantings of low-growing grasses like carex testacea, combined with vertical accents like phormium look really good in modernist designs.

If you want to make it traditional and cottagey looking, then adding a porch with a gable would be great as Elaine's photo shows. Keep the path as is, rip out all the overgrown shrubs, remove the palm tree (you can sell them for a good bit of money) and use a wider variety of cottagey plants like penstemon, hebes, and roses.

I do like the red on the front door. You might consider adding a small porch to create more attention around the front door area. Something similar to Elaine's would draw the eye and keep guests out of the weather.
You also might consider painting the garage door to match the house color, so that it blends in more. I think the white draws the attention away from your front entry. The plants need some pruning as well. Good Luck!

I don't know where you live, so wondering about your weather year round, but I LOVE to have a patio in the front of the house. First of all, I would remove that overgrown landscaping. consider turning the large set of windows on the left into french doors that would walk out onto a lovely patio. you could do a porch, but I don't think you have to. I'd put a lovely cafe set with beautiful potted plants...and every morning I'd sit there with my coffee and paper and wave to the neighbors. I'd brighten the whole thing up with some fresh white paint, and keep the door a bright cheery color, but I'd make it one with glass, too. Don't be shy!

Really nice ranch house .. is that a brick sidewalk? If so, edge the drive way in brick. Front door color is great! As others suggest trim the shrubs ... too much too high ... suggest to paint garage door I believe is a good one ... color of house best. Outdoor lighting makes a house very atractive from the street ... suggest add lighting on each side of garage door and at front door! Be sure to have lighting fixtures a little big ... too small is not good! Have fun and enjoy!

Try Ply Gem website. Total home solutions for the exterior. Look at their before and after gallery.

Trim down your bushes, the walkway is wrong... not sure needs to come off the front not flow into the driveway, create additional path or stepping stone in front of the trimmed bushes or changes those out.. Wait on the tree till you get a good feel for it.. hard to replace those.

i am in same thought wave as Erik johnson.

a year round great look for a front yard

Hi, just a couple Ideas! first one is more traditional, like Elaine's above. Yet if you plan to go more modern, you can use a slanted entry portico, or slatted entry porch pergola, this has one post you can use two or more!.. and maybe as suggested above use landscape, low walls. You'd have to reconfigure the front path, but a nice look!...here is another picture idea for you!

1. Portico gabled entry



2. Slanted entry



3. low walls, planter at entry.



6. Slatted trellis and post entry.

It is a great house,, I agree with getting a contemporary modern glass front door. One thing that would really make the house pop is splurging on a mid century garage door. There are lots of ideas on this site!! It would really accent the home. The garage is part of the drive up of your home and just as much attention needs to be put on it as anything else--it can look really really great!!

Consider changing the garage door to Clopay's Avante Collection. http://www.clopaydoor.com

I like the idea of the garage painted 2 shades darker than the house color. If that is a palm tree i would not part with it even if it does seem to divide the house. Trim hedges below window sills in front of all windows. Not sure what is by the street in the front yard but remove it if possible or plant flowers or monkey grass to cover it and paint the mailbox post dark. If that is a chimney on the left corner, paint it a black-green. It will disappear and you can plant a flowering tree in front of it. I like your door. Hot pink may look cool too!

I have some ideas but I need to know your budget and style.

Add some lighting for night with some solar lights down the walkway. Maybe add a flower bed down each side too with some low growing native flowers that are perinneal. Definately tame the shrubs andtake down that tree. You can always add something there later if you wish that would balance things out.

This looks a lot like Southern California, with the palms and the lot size/orientation. If so I think a nice wood door would look great! This one is one of our most popular designs. It would match the area as well, and give a modern/beach feel to the face.

Good Luck!!

Clean up the landscaping.

The bushes have to go. They're blocking the house and look dated. I would replace the walkway with a straight one made with rectangular pavers with pebbles in between. Then I would do a modern Garden design playing on the mid century style of the house using a limited plant palette. Think about New Zealand flax and tall and short grasses.

Don't cut down the tall palm tree!!

Melissa, it would look nice if you removed some of the large shrubs in front and made a nice, uneven, flower and shrub bed with a small tree. Use your favorite color for the front door and enjoy it. I can't tell if it has a front porch area but that would also be nice and you could put some chairs and decorate it.

The white rafter tails look very prominent and distracting across the front. I would paint them the same color as the house, so they blend in. Palm tree or not, get rid of it.

Please look at this show on HGTV called Fixer Upper. http://magnoliahomes.net/season-2-episode-11/. They take homes like this and rennovate them. I love this show so much and you can get tons of ideas from their website as well. The company is called Magnolia Homes out of Waco, Texas. I can't say enough about this couple. They are making the Waco community so beautiful, one home at a time. I am confident you will see something you love!

Trim your scrubs. Love the red door and the curved brick walkway. I think some flagstone along with some low spreading plants would look good on the sides of your walkway where it meets the driveway. Do you have gutters on your house, if not, I would install those ASAP?

post from 2013